


Have you been to Africa?

by MarieITNO98



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 20:33:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17608454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarieITNO98/pseuds/MarieITNO98
Summary: Nico is not feeling well and Martino spends the night at his house.





	Have you been to Africa?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey <3
> 
> Somehow I have this headcanon that Family Fares has a dog.  
> So, naturally, I had to write about him.
> 
> I hope you like it <33

"Come on in, Martino." Anna smiled at him after they had hugged each other.  
She was wearing a beautiful dress which complimented her sparkling eyes.  
"It's good you're here. He hasn't said much all day but when he did he was asking for you."  
"That's why I'm here.", Martino took off his shoes and jacket, "Where are you going tonight?"  
"To a reading from one of my favorite authors. We're going to have so much fun."  
Anna's eyes sparkled while her husband rolled his eyes. He clearly didn't seem excited about tonights plan. Anna had probably forced him to wear the suit he had on now,  
but his black hair was a wild mess, just like his sons on sleepy Sunday mornings.  
"Where is Nico?"  
"In his room, he was sleeping before. Oh and Lino is with him."  
"Did Lino have his afternoon walk already? If not I can do it."  
"Yes. Don't worry about it. Well, you know where everything is. Have a good night."  
Anna smiled at him and Marti gave a small nod back.  
"You two have fun at the reading."  
Nico's dad laughed loudly but quickly stopped when Anna shot him a furious look.  
Before they left the apartment, he turned around to wink at Marti. 

Still giggling, Marti opened the door to Nico's room.  
The curtains were drawn close but the lamp on the nightstand provided enough light to make out the bed and the small figure lying in it.  
Everytime he stepped into this room his heartbeat accelerated.  
Everything in it reminded him of Nico, his drawings, the overstuffed shelves.  
The dozen paintbrushes that were so old, glued together with old paint that they were of no use anymore and Nico bought more and more and used them only once or twice before they ended up in the old glasses on the shelf next to the bed.  
The small wooden containers that Nico had built together with his dad when he was a kid. Overflowing with pens, papers and other stuff.  
What he loved the most where the books. Books in all different kinds of languages, dictionaries, photo books about space and stars, about lions and zebras, novels from authors he had never heard of and inbetween the back of the books pieces of paper or small notebooks full of doodles and poems.  
The room felt like another person, like a part of Nico, a part that Martino loved very much. His friends always teased him when he was telling them stories about what Nico had painted, drawn or built over the weekend. Though, he knew that they were secretely a little jealous.  
"Hey."  
Nico was awake.  
Marti's heart melted at the sight of his boyfriend tugged under a blanket, strands of messy hair falling in his tired eyes and a weak smile on his lips, trying his best to look okay.  
He was stroking the back of the big Golden Retriever who was lying across his legs, his head resting on Nico's stomach.  
Lino's tail wiggled when he saw Marti.  
"Hi, you two. You look very comfy."  
Martino crawled onto the bed.  
When he was close enough he could see that Nico had been crying. His eyes were red and shiny.  
As soon as Martino pulled him into a hug, Nico let out a deep breath, sounding as if he hadn't breathed all day.  
His body felt fragile, slightly trembling under his touch, but it was still him. Still his Nico.  
"Want to tell me what it is or just cuddle?"  
Sometimes, Marti still felt like he was doing it all wrong, scaring Nico away, controlling him, suffoccating him with attention and questions.  
They had talked about it, though, and Nico had told him that Marti was the first person to accept him the way he was, he liked it when Marti was with him, holding him, wanting to know what was going through his head. That it felt good talking to him.  
"Maybe both?" his voice raspy.  
"Sure, but I think Lino wants to participate."  
Lino had started to crawl up, dragging the blanket down, placing his big paws on Nico's collarbones. Martino knew how heavy the dog was and sometimes he was a bit concerned. Then, however, he remembered how much Nico liked the weight of him on top of him. When they were cuddling, sleeping or supposed to be studying.  
So why would he make an exception with his dog?  
"I didn't know your mom allows him to sleep in your bed."  
"She knows I need him."  
Nico looked him in the eyes and his hand touched Martino's chest and started to play with  
the collar of his shirt. On any other occassion this would have had Marti swooning but now it felt calming.  
It was silent for a long time. Their hands interwined at one point, both gently carressing the other one. Nico let out deep breaths every once in a while and almost half an hour had passed when he started to talk.  
"I am scared."  
Nico looked up at the ceiling again.  
"I am so scared of losing control. No matter what I do I will eventually lose it and there's nothing I can do."  
Marti raised his hand and began drawing soothing circles in his dark hair, letting him talk,  
giving him room to express his fears.  
"What I hate the most is that I can sometime sense when it's coming, like a train on a railroad crossing.You see the red light and the railroad gate closing but you can't move, you're stuck on the rails and the train will get to you eventually."  
"What happens when the train gets to you?"  
"Suddenly I feel like I'm in this rollercoaster that either only goes up or only down and then in loopings. Do you know what I mean?"  
"I think so, you explain it very well, actually."  
"Afterwards I feel drained and embarrassed." his voice was barely audible by now.  
Nico turned his head, looking in the dark corner of his room. Martino could feel his body trembling and he knew he was crying.  
"Hey. Hey, c'm here, Ni."  
He wrapped him in a hug, tighter than the one before.  
"I don't know why I am crying. I don't want to." Nico tried to bury his face in Martino's chest, but Lino put his nose between them.  
The dog whimpered started licking Nico's face.  
"Look, Lino doesn't want you to cry either. Lino, hey, buddy, let Nico feel what he feels okay? Tears are okay, you don't have to lick them away."  
Lino wasn't impressed, drool dropping all over Nico's face.  
And Nico laughed. Choked out between sobs, but Marti's heart skipped a beat.  
"He always does this."  
"He's a sensitive guy." Martino placed a kiss on Nico's cheek.  
"Is the train gone?" he asked after a while.  
"Yes."  
"What do you wanna do now?"  
"Pet Lino..." he trailed off, his one hand still on Marti's chest, the other one deep in the fur of his dog, "and for you to read me something."  
As soon as he had said it he shook his head, "No, scratch that, that's embarrassing."  
"No, it's not. Anything that makes you feel better. What book were you thinking about?"  
Nico exhaled deeply "It's on the shelve in the living room. A small paperback book called 'Have you been to Africa?' by Tom Harvey."  
"Okay, I'm gonna get it."  
Marti got up and went to the living room. Lino joined him.  
Family Fares had one of the most impressive book collections he had seen in his life.  
He had admired it from the first moment he saw it. All those stories that Nico had probably listened to as a kid, sitting on the couch between his parents, in his pj's and with wide green eyes. Soaking in all the adventures and tales.  
For a minute he could even see them sitting there. Lino stretched out on the carpet.  
Why couldn't he have this kind of childhood? Why did his father-  
A cold nose poked his hand and he flinched.  
Lino was looking at him expectantly.  
"Right, the book, do you know where it is, buddy, mhm?"  
Marti adored him and liked having him around. He loved going on long walks with him and Nico to the park and sit on a bench, watching him play.  
He also knew how much Lino meant to Nico.  
"Ah there it is."  
'Have you been to Africa?' was a tiny yellow book. Its pages so worn out and faded that he almost couldn't read the letters anymore.  
Nico put his head on his shoulder when Martino had settled back into bed, one arm wrapped around Marti's stomach, the other one resting on Lino's back.  
"In the savannah there lived a giraffe. She was smaller than all the other giraffes and that made her very sad. However, one day she found out that it had advantages to be a bit different than all the other giraffes.She could...."  
Nico fell asleep after the first two chapters.  
Marti stayed up all night reading it and didn't even hear Nico's parents come back well after midnight.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if you've read one of my previous fics where I mentioned that I can  
> relate to Nico so well. Most of the things he mentioned in the show are very familiar to me and  
> really had an impact on me. I am so grateful for a character like him.  
> The things he talks about in this fic are things I experience a lot too and it's very therapeutic to write about it.  
> Plus I just love our soft boys <3 Marti is also one of the best characters ever <3
> 
> Thank you for reading. Comments and kudos are appreciated. 3


End file.
